General world climate crisis articles

[Aquamarine]

Wildfires have just burnt a staggering 30% of Brazil's Pantanal wetlands.

Satellites watched wildfires burn a staggering 30% of Brazil's Pantanal wetlands

The amount of greenhouse gases released into the air by the fires was also likely higher than previously measured.

www.space.com

 

[Signal 11]

Banks pumped more than $150bn in to companies running ‘carbon bomb’ projects in 2022

The carbon bombs – 425 extraction projects that can each pump more than one gigaton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – cumulatively hold enough coal, oil and gas to burn through the rapidly dwindling carbon budget four times over. Between 2016 and 2022, banks mainly in the US, China and Europe gave $1.8tn in financing to the companies running them, new research shows.

 

[Aquamarine]

Amazon deforestation has big impact on regional temperatures, new study shows​

Research highlights benefits forests bring surrounding regions in terms of cooler air and more rainfall https://www.theguardian.com/.../deforestation-has-big...

Amazon deforestation causes strong regional warming - by Edward Butt et al. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2309123120

 

[Aquamarine]

Disturbing, extended summer weather in the Eastern Med:
37C in Israel,32.8C in Cyprus, in Russia 26C at 700m asl,25C at 1000m.

Very hot nights as well: the MIN Temp was 24.1C at Samandira in Turkey.

In Greece November RECORD high tied at Thessaloniki with 27.0C

 

[Aquamarine]

Arctic heating is releasing several million years of accumulated methane into the region's atmosphere.

Data for previous years is shown here:

Estimating methane emissions in the Arctic nations using surface observations from 2008 to 2019

Abstract. The Arctic is a critical region in terms of global warming. Environmental changes are already progressing steadily in high northern latitudes, whereby, among other effects, a high potential for enhanced methane (CH4) emissions is induced. With CH4 being a potent greenhouse gas...

acp.copernicus.org

 

[Artaxerxes]

Methane also makes CO2 look like an amateur at retaining heat so


Last one in turn out the lights

 

[stavros]

Michael Mann on Cop28.

 

[bcuster]

Stop Planting Trees, Says Guy Who Inspired World to Plant a Trillion Trees

Ecologist Thomas Crowther’s research inspired countless tree-planting campaigns, greenwashing, and attacks from scientists. Now he’s back with a new plan for nature restoration.

www.wired.com

 

[lazythursday]

Stop Planting Trees, Says Guy Who Inspired World to Plant a Trillion Trees

Ecologist Thomas Crowther’s research inspired countless tree-planting campaigns, greenwashing, and attacks from scientists. Now he’s back with a new plan for nature restoration.

www.wired.com

Am not sure that headline is particularly useful. While it's quite true that trees have to be planted in the right place, and protecting old growth forest is the number one priority, I have yet to see a pathway to net zero that doesn't include a significant amount of tree planting and in a place like the UK we have pitifully low tree coverage. Plus, though most need to be broad leaf woodlands that benefit nature, we will also need more conifer plantations as wood is likely be needed more in construction.

And this is also why we need to eat less meat, because there isn't the land available for more trees, more space given over for nature, plantations, solar farms and the current scale of animal agriculture which is hugely inefficient use of land.

 

[stavros]

Denmark brings in a passenger tax on all non-transit flights taking off or landing in the country. I don't expect the UK to follow suit, but it'll be interesting to see if any other EU states, or Norway, do the same.

 

[GarveyLives]

"Researchers calculated that high-emitting countries, including the U.S., should pay $192 trillion in compensation to low-emitting nations ..."

Rich Nations Owe $192 Trillion for Causing Climate Change, New Analysis Finds

 

[GarveyLives]

"The UK is responsible for almost twice as much global heating as previously thought when its colonial history is taken into account, analysis has revealed ..."

British empire’s past emissions ‘double UK’s climate responsibility’

 

[stavros]

2023 confirmed as the earth's hottest on record.

 

[krtek a houby]

Power companies buy off US civil rights

Power companies paid civil rights leaders in the US south. They became loyal industry advocates

A joint investigation by Floodlight and Capital B shows millions of dollars flowed from utilities to Black leaders and their groups since at least 2009

www.theguardian.com

Well, that's depressing but not at all surprised that utility companies would seek to influence in their favour.

 

[Artaxerxes]

‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals

Companies knew for decades recycling was not viable but promoted it regardless, Center for Climate Integrity study finds

www.theguardian.com

 

[magneze]

Read that yesterday, thoroughly depressing. I was left with the question, do we just stop trying to recycle plastic now?

The answer is just stop using it, but of course so much is made from it. FFS

 

[Artaxerxes]

Read that yesterday, thoroughly depressing. I was left with the question, do we just stop trying to recycle plastic now?

The answer is just stop using it, but of course so much is made from it. FF

Yeah we’ve known it’s probably pointless for a while but what can you do? It’s everywhere. Things are very slowly getting better but it’s just such a waste

 

[Signal 11]

World’s largest oil companies ‘way off track’ on emissions goals, report finds

The analysis from the thinktank Carbon Tracker assessed the production and transition plans of 25 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies. None align with the central goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement to keep global warming “well under” 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, the report found.

Every firm assessed besides the gas company Chesapeake Energy has plans to expand fossil-fuel production in the near term, the analysis found.

BP is the only company aiming to cut its fossil fuel production by 2030, while just three companies – Spain’s Repsol, Norway’s Equinor, and the UK-based Shell – have plans to keep production levels flat, the report found. ConocoPhillips, meanwhile, is aiming to increase production by 47% by the end of the decade, compared with its 2022 output, according to the analysis.

 

[yield]

Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? | Oceanography

tos.org

 

[teqniq]

This is sad:

No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent

As the soundscape of the natural world began to disappear over 30 years, one man was listening and recording it all

www.theguardian.com

 

[PR1Berske]

Pieski says these days, jiekŋaguolli, the springtime-salmon word, is only used when talking about the past, when the fish were still abundant.

How climate change is altering Sami language

North Sami, a language spoken in the Arctic, has more than 300 words for snow and a special word for "frightened reindeer". Can it survive in a warmer world?

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Humberto]

The Guardian surveyed hundreds of climate scientists from the IPCC. The majority said that the 1.5C target is well gone and most think at least 2.5C this century. There are some descriptions of the possible implications for the world too.

World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target

Exclusive: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds

www.theguardian.com

Many of the scientists envisage a “semi-dystopian” future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond those that have already struck.

“I think we are headed for major societal disruption within the next five years,” said Gretta Pecl, at the University of Tasmania. “[Authorities] will be overwhelmed by extreme event after extreme event, food production will be disrupted. I could not feel greater despair over the future.”

 

[Mr.Bishie]

^^ A very brief snippet about this on breakfast news earlier, hardly worth the BBC bothering.

 

[bcuster]

Identity crisis: Climate destroying wonders that gave US parks their names

Glacier National Park's ice fortress is crumbling.To this end, Glacier National Park's winding trails are dotted with signs that pose poignant questions.

www.yahoo.com

 

[bcuster]

Cruise liners try to rewrite climate rules despite vows

The trade group representing the cruise ship industry unsuccessfully pushed international authorities to water down new environmental regulations despite its members’ climate commitments, experts in marine air pollution warn.

apnews.com

 

[yield]

Climate Change Risk to National Critical Functions
Rand. Jul 10, 2024

The United States used to experience around three billion-dollar weather disasters a year, adjusted for inflation, federal numbers show. By the early 2000s, that had risen to six. In the 2010s, it was more like 13. During the past five years, the U.S. has averaged around 20 billion-dollar disasters every year. And last year, the number was 28.

 

[Dystopiary]

New research shows that climate change has increased rainfall variability, increasing the risk of both flooding and drought.

The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth's land area—particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows.

Climate models suggest rainfall variability in many parts of Australia will keep increasing, unless greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly reduced.

A change in only a handful of heavy rainfall days can make or break a drought in Australia. This means even small changes in variability can bring more devastating droughts in the future as dry periods become drier.

Policymakers can often be overly focused on whether their part of the world is becoming wetter or drier overall. But as this new research shows, it's variability they should be worried about.

New research shows how global warming is messing with our rainfall

 

[ska invita]

Antarctic temperatures rise 10C above average in near record heatwave

Reported temperatures on continent in midwinter reach 28C above expectations on some days in July

www.theguardian.com

 

[DotCommunist]

The Collapse Is Coming. Will Humanity Adapt?

An evolutionary biologist and a science fiction writer walk into a bar... and mull over survival.

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

 

[yield]

The Collapse Is Coming. Will Humanity Adapt?

An evolutionary biologist and a science fiction writer walk into a bar... and mull over survival.

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

Thanks for the article, I like Peter Watts read a couple of his books. Blindsight is good.

Peter Watts: — you’re talking about passing through that bottleneck and coming out the other side with some semblance of what we value intact.

Daniel Brooks: Yeah, that’s right. It is conceivable that if all of humanity suddenly decided to change its behavior, right now, we would emerge after 2050 with most everything intact, and we would be “OK.” We don’t think that’s realistic. It is a possibility, but we don’t think that’s a realistic possibility.

We think that, in fact, most of humanity is committed to business as usual, and that’s what we’re really talking about: What can we begin doing now to try to shorten the period of time after the collapse, before we “recover”?

In other words — and this is in analogy with Asimov’s Foundation trilogy — if we do nothing, there’s going to be a collapse and it’ll take 30,000 years for the galaxy to recover. But if we start doing things now, then it maybe only takes 1,000 years to recover.

So using that analogy, what can some human beings start to do now that would shorten the period of time necessary to recover? Could we, in fact, recover within a generation? Could we be without a global internet for 20 years, but within 20 years, could we have a global internet back again?

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. has the same cyclical theme as Asimov.